Architectural speakers are designed to present a visual impression that does not interrupt the visual impression of a room. In room sound systems, it is often desirable to place the speakers in the ceiling, out of the normal line of sight. The speakers themselves have been engineered to deliver uniform and clear sound throughout the listening area. In one typical speaker design, the speaker is co-axial, meaning that the tweeter, or high frequency speaker, is located in the middle of the woofer, or low/mid frequency speaker. This configuration not only optimizes the acoustic performance of the architectural speaker, it also minimizes the profile or envelope occupied by the speaker. From a performance standpoint, this reduced profile allows the use of a larger woofer for richer low end performance. From an aesthetic standpoint, the reduced profile presents as small a disruption as possible to the overall decor of the room as possible.
Perhaps the most important component of the aesthetics of an architectural speaker assembly is the grill, or speaker cover. The grill covers the speaker components (woofer and tweeter) which are usually not designed for their aesthetic appeal. The grill or speaker cover is also configured at a minimum to avoid interfering with the sound quality of the speaker, and at a maximum to help enhance the sound performance.
In many cabinet-style speakers, the speaker cover is composed of a cloth material that is often selected to present a particular visual impression. On the other hand, for the typical architectural speaker, especially for the in-ceiling speaker, it is preferred that the grill be as “transparent” as possible with respect to the surrounding ceiling or wall. It is therefore desirable that the grill be configured to essentially blend into the surrounding surface. To help achieve that goal, the grills on most architectural speakers are formed of a material that can be easily painted to match the color of the surrounding surface.
Optimally, the grill is removably mounted to the speaker support structure. Removability allows ready access to the speaker components as needed. In addition, removability allows replacement of the speaker grill if it becomes damaged, or removal to touch-up or re-paint the grill. Many mounting mechanisms interrupt the desired clean, blended appearance of the grill. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,765 shows one mounting mechanism in which the grill is held in place by external screws. The screws are partially concealed in recesses defined in the grill, which disrupts the grill surface. From a manufacturing approach, the grill design of the '765 Patent is complicated by the need to form the screw recesses.
In another approach, as represented by U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,503, clamp segments clamp the edge of the grill to an exposed edge of the speaker frame. This approach requires access to the sides of the grill for removal of the clamp segments, which thus necessitates a gap between the speaker grill and the surrounding wall or ceiling surface. Moreover, the use of the clamp segments requires that the edge of the grill be offset from the wall surface so that the grill does not present an uninterrupted surface in the room. A similar problem exists with the grill attachment mechanism in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,979 in which the edges of the grill itself form clamp segments.
One design employs magnetic force from the speaker magnet to hold the speaker grill over the cone. While this approach addresses many of the shortcomings of other prior art, it has only been available in expensive speaker designs because it requires a speaker coil magnet that is sufficient strong and/or of a special or limited design that is close to the grill.
There is a need in the design of architectural speakers for a grill and grill attachment mechanism that does not disrupt the aesthetics of the room, and which does not result in a substantial increase in the price of the speaker. The attachment mechanism must permit easy removal and replacement of the grill, most preferably with the need for tools. The grill and attachment mechanism should not interfere with the acoustic performance of the speaker.